All posts in "UNESCO"

Once upon a time, in the far away mountainous region of Northern Argentina, a group of nomads decided to form a small town at the bottom of the hills.

These surrounding hills looked just like any other unimpressive mountains – dull, with no colours. “Boooring!” said the creative and imaginative children of the town. This is unacceptable to them and they complained to the adults. What is life without colours?

Their pleas to the adults fell on deaf ears. To the adults who had lost passion in life and hated their 9-5 day jobs, it was normal and something to ‘get used to’.

“Go do your homework!” the adults snapped, as they continued binge watching their boring TV and munching on Andean Potato Chips.

What happens when you ignore kids and tell them to do their homework? They rebel, of course! These kids formulated a plan to decorate the hills.

The path to Garganta del Diablo was not well-marked, but animal wastes littered the well-trodden path. It is impossible to get lost.

Cacti and a sprawl of hardy sagebrush blanketed the wide plain as I climbed under the relentless sun.

The heat and the thin mountain air form a potent recipe for panting easily. Each time I felt my energy dipped, I turned around to look at the gorgeous colourful mountains of the Quebrada de Humahuaca and I instantly felt rejuvenated.

Such is the awe of the magnificent valley of the UNESCO declared Quebrada de Humahuaca in the North of Argentina. And what I was doing was starting a roughly 7km hike from the small mountain town of Tilcara.

There were not many people: I counted fewer than 10. Yet, these ruins were declared UNESCO World Heritage Status back in 1993; a title that usually comes with a horde of visitors. Not so with these ruins.

There was a rumour that this site – the Trinidad Ruins and its sister site the Jesús Ruins – is the least visited UNESCO site in the world. Is it true?

I walked to the side of the ruins to avoid the huge group of middle-aged tourists strolling to the entrance of the church.

At this area, and to the back of the ruins, I was alone.

No matter how damaged they are, these sharp, edged red sandstone structures look photogenic from every angle. I had my own mini-photoshoot. No photobombers, no weird stares, just me and my trusty Gopro.

The sun was beaming strong in San Ignacio, a small town 56km northeast of Posadas, capital of Misiones Province. This unique town feels different from the rest of Argentina.

There were only the white crumbly ground, dry desert shrubs and sedimentary rocks of otherworldly shapes. Lots and lots of these irregular rock formations; almost like they’re trophies in an outdoor natural museum.

Time and again, I thought to myself, “Where am I?”

If it wasn’t for the 15 or so tourists, I’d have imagine being lost on another planet. I wouldn’t be surprised if a one-eyed, four-legged monster dripping green gooey saliva jumped out from under the rocks and attacked us.

Indeed, this looked like a scene out of a Starwars movie, on one of the desert-like planets with alien inhabitants.

We were walking under the beaming sun towards the Cancha de Bochas (The Balls’ Field) in Ischigualasto Provincial Park.

Like a 7-year old in a candy store, I was in absolute awe. The canyons surrounded me on both sides, like all sorts of colourful candies surrounding the little boy, and I gasped in all its glory.

Millions of years of wind, rain and erosion form a dramatic landscape of red hills and bizarre rock formations. Layers of different shades of red painted the walls of the canyons, almost in a parallel fashion. How do they look so smooth, like a natural art masterpiece, is a mystery to me.

Now I understood why this place – the 215,000 hectares (a half-million acres) Talampaya National Park – is declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

I remember back when I was a kid in art classes, we would place our hands onto a piece of drawing paper, and trace the outline of the fingers with coloured pencils.

We would repeat it over and over again – with the other hand – until the whole piece of paper is filled with the outlines of our hands. Some were smooth, others were shaky.

I’d look at it with a satisfied smirk, submit it to the teacher and rush out to play with the other boys.

I never gave much thought to art classes as a little boy, which makes it ironic now that as a young man, I love to see ancient, tribal art. The Cuevas de las Manos (literally Caves of the Hands) in Argentinean Patagonia is just that: ancient artwork of hand outlines, yet the instance I knew about it, I went out of the way to see it.

We walked slowly in a single file, lifting each foot with more effort than usual. Our feet were weighed down by the crampons. Each step felt deliberate, robotic even.

The vast expanse of blue went beyond the horizon, seemingly never-ending. It’s unlike anything I’ve encountered before. All sorts of blue surrounded us; sky blue, deep blue, dirty blue. There must’ve been more than 50 shades of blue. Icy peaks, cracks, small ponds and columns of glacial ice make up a wild and captivating environment.

They were moating. Their black and white furs flying everywhere. Some were sleeping in their holes. Others were limping about. Noisy little fellas. What was that sound they make? Do penguins quack?

We stood there admiring the small penguin colony, separated by only a small fence – just short enough to prevent the penguins from leaving, but almost non-existent for us humans. It was the closest we could get to the penguins at Punta Cantor, our first stop at the UNESCO protected Peninsula Valdes tour.

That’s what I told myself when I hiked up Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was only day 3 of my South America trip and I’m already drenched in sweat and panting heavily. It wasn’t hot, as the path was covered by trees, but man, Brazil is as humid as sunny little Singapore.

I was totally unprepared. I severely underestimated the hike up Corcovado.

Hey all! My name is Owen and I am from Singapore! I graduated from University in December 2016 and after my 26th birthday 2 months later, I jet off on a one-way ticket to South America to chase my dreams! I started this blog (after much procrastination) to record my travels from a Singaporean perspective and hopefully help as many travellers heading to South America as possible. Read more about how and why I started this trip here.